Silver glass loser here....

[SuzyQ]

I havn't taken the time to really get the hang of silver glass. Last time I just didn't "get it". I'm about to try again and want some tips for encasing them. Will they work if I strike or reduce first and then try to trap the color in clear? Or am I wasting my time?

[lunamoonshadow]

ROFL....I so want to say "you're wasting your time, just send it all to me, I'll take care of that nasty glass for you" ;)




Um....I don't encase anything but the Terra (the old stuff--got any of that?) so I'm not much help on the other colors--but for Terra, I work it really really really cool & as soon as I see the colors I slap clear glass over it & encase it & throw it in the kiln if I'm @ Playing With Fire, or into my crock-pot of Vermiculite if I'm @ home (sigh...)....it works well on the hothead, which is why I :love: it!

Black Nebula (the only one I've bought a bit of!) I was playing with last week--using *it* to encase icky-beads (hide the evidence) & then sprinkling a little bit of OR frit on it, or other frit on it & reducing the whole thing--it looked like it might be cool when it went into the kiln...(I haven't gotten them back yet--they're waiting for me in Rockland--I might get down there again next week...I hope...I've got a couple hours left on my studio gift card from mom before I'm back to "hothead-only/no kiln-time" :))

The other stuff I haven't tried encaseing yet--I've only got gifted samples of everything else that I've been playing with in "dot-dot-dots", so I'll be watching this thread for more tips :)

[Toni Lutman]

You might do a test bead. and just do a dot of each silver color you have, reduce, and cover with a dot of clear. That might give you an idea of which ones hold their color. In fact, the clear will probably enhance the color on some of them.

Of course, encasing a silver color bead may give you a different effect since the amount of heat used is different than when just using a dot of clear, but it will you a starting point.

[Kevan]

Some of the reduction glass looks really great when you reduce it and then encase it. Some goes back to it's original color. Psyche is one that is very neat encased,so is Nyx.

The striking colors like Raku, Van Gogh, and Da Vinci look great encased. Terra Nova, very cool.

[SuzyQ]

Yah, a test bead.... I was just being lazy, and hoping someone would say, "Yes! It looks cool." :D

[SuzyQ]

Thanks Kevan, I think I have some of those.

[Hels]

Hi SuzyQ:).

I don't work with soft glass, but silver glass should be the same with soft or boro. The 'key' to working with it, that took me a while to get, is as Brent and pipyr put it "burn the haze off, and keep it burned off".

As the glass begins to cool, you will notice that it forms an opaque yellowish 'skin' on the surface of the glass. As you get it hotter, the skin begins to clear up at the spot where the flame hits. That's what 'burn it off' means. Try to get the entire thing clear of this haze BEFORE encasing so your colors aren't opaque and 'muddy'. This is easier said than done, depending on the silver color you're working with.

If your flame chemistry isn't good (not oxidizing enough), you will burn off the haze, and then it will immediately come back as you move the fire point on the glass. If you see the haze, and let the glass cool with it on, your glass is cloudy at that point. As long as the glass is NOT encased, you can keep burning it off.

Once encased, it's permanently cloudy. That's why you want to be very sure the glass is haze free while encasing. Now if you have SOME haze, that's what gives that swirly silvered glass effect, but no matter what, it will have some, so keep it burned off while encasing.

That said, even after encasing, if you cool it improperly, it can still haze up under the glass and give you mud colors. So the ideal is to burn off the haze, encase fast with no trapped haze, and then pop into the kiln.

That's why Brent says he kiln strikes... if you flame strike, you risk improper temps, and mud anyway. When you flame strike, you have to cool to an exact point to get certain colors... leaving very little wiggle room. You can always kiln strike to get the colors you want by letting it run through several cycles, and removing it when you're happy with the colors (this only works if you have no sparkles/lustres in the piece, which can get 'liver' if you over strike in the kiln).

Due to the mixed pieces many of us make, sometimes kiln striking isn't practical, so we do the hit and miss flame striking. For me, that usually means if I get lazy and try to do say several beads on 1 mandrel, they will never strike the same colors on the same stick, so 1 at a time is the best color control.

[Hayley]

Luna 2 can actually be struck after being encased.

As for reducing colors - quite a few retain the reduction after encasing . . . but you have to be careful to keep the bead from the flame as not to "erase" the reduction with the neutral flame.

For my silver exchange, I have been compiling a reference with links to all the pix posted and some with tips on how to work them. Look for anything with "encased" . . . hope this helps!

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1850330&postcount=5

[SuzyQ]

Oh excellent info Helen. I actually have had the pleasure of a hands on Pipyr striking lesson. I just might be able to do this!

[cadia]

Did everyone but me know not to etch NYX?!!
It completely lost all of it's color in the etching process, is this the same with all striking glsss??

[Hels]

Cadia... when glass is 'struck', it's often surface striking only... now I don't have experience with this, but you have nothing to lose. Run it through a few kiln cycles with your other beads and see if the color redevelops:).

[Kevan]

The reduction glass ,which is what Nyx and Psyche are, will lose the metallic sheen and colors when you etch it. Striking colors will not, which is Raku, Da Vinci, Luna.

[cadia]

Thank~you Hels and Kevan!
I'll try to refire it!

[simvet02]

One of the things that really helped me was something that Hayley said in an earlier post about only having the reduction flame at about 2" and putting the bead in another 4" above that. Worked like a charm for Triton.

I am having better luck dotting the reduced silver glass with clear while keeping the bead just behind the flame to keep it warm. It's an interesting look, kind of like scales. Here is one I did that way.

122488

[Hels]

I've ONLY been talking about striking, not reduction, hope everyone realizes that...

[PaulaD]

I haven't had much torch time with it either but I did get an over the phone tutorial from Kimberly A. (Bless that lady!) after getting nothing but mud with my initial attempts. What I learned not to do (for the reduction glasses) is work the bead in a reduction flame which was what I thought you were supposed to do. So now I generally work it in a neutral flame, cool until the glow is gone, and waft in an out of either a big, bushy propane flame or a 75%propane/25% oxygen flame to bring the metals to the surface. Most of the manufacturers so have some explanations on their websites as to how to work their colors. Kimberly teaches classes on this every now and then and she knows each color to the n-th degree.
Paula

[SuzyQ]

OK, guess what? I still suck :D

[Firebrand Beads]

I know PPP is supposed to mean "practice practice practice" but with the silver glasses it means "practice PATIENCE, Peaches!" At least that's what it means for me, lol! I keep a halogen lamp over my right shoulder. I don't let the light interfere with my view of the flame (I like it dark around my torch) but I bring the beads into the light to watch them "develop" their colors, like a Polaroid. I can then move into the darker area to see if the glow is really gone before going back for another strike or another reduction. See if that helps you?

[SuzyQ]

Oh, good idea. I have a hard time seeing and walk over to the window to check, so a light would be helpful. Thanks.

[PaulaD]

Jennifer that's a great idea! You teach this stuff too, right?
I have a little halogen flash light that I keep on my bench!

Paula

[lunamoonshadow]

Um....this might sound really stupid...but...I got the BEST colors from my silver glass shorts (ok, I'm pathetic & most of my glass was shorts I was gifted :D) when I was wearing clear safety glasses & NOT my didys...because I could SEE the colors change on the bead....when I switched to didys (really recently) I started wrecking the silver glass :( & overfrying it. I have to remember to either switch back to my clear glasses or keep peeping over the tops so I stop over-cooking the silver-stuff &/or know when I've struck/developed it to where I want it--if that makes any sense?
~me

[Firebrand Beads]

Hey, I never realized my falling-down-my-nose didymium glasses were so useful, lol! Wanna switch? ;-D
The bright light helps make up for the dydims, for the most part...for me at least.

[Toni Lutman]

I just got the Bench Mounted Didy Shield (http://www.austinbluemoon.com/catalog.php?item=7&catid=8&ret=catalog.php%3Fpage%3D2%26category%3D8) from Blue Moon. I love it because I can move my bead from behind it, and up to the light if I want, to see the colors blooming.

I want to try boro too, so I also got the add-on #3 welders shade glass to add to it.

[SuzyQ]

OMG! Houston? We got color!! I got something from zeus and michaelangelo. :D

[Firebrand Beads]

Yeah, the Zeus is a puzzler for lots of folks, because you *have* to reduce it lightly before it will strike. I like about a 3 - 4 inch white/yellow candle in the torch, and to flash the Zeus bead about 4 - 6 times in that before cooling and going back to a neutral flame to strike it a couple of times. It gets more opaque with continued striking. Try it on transparent oranges for some killer electric purples (that's a Renee W. combo, BTW...thanks, doll!)

[SuzyQ]

Oh, lol. I must have gotten color because I wasn't sure it was a striker or a reducer so I tried reduction first then striking :D Happy accident. Now I have to try it with the orange. Sounds yummy, thanks.

[Firebrand Beads]

Since no one else has posted one, here's an image of Zeus over orange:
116331
I wouldn't have thought of it myself, so I definitely credit Renee with this combo. I didn't like it as well with my older Moretti orange, but this one was done with a sample of CIM transparent orange (tangerine?) over Moretti white. I really liked the saturation of the CIM color, and it worked very nicely with the TAG Zeus. The black line is part of the reaction between the two.